Empties Management 

Purpose

You use the Empties Management component in your business processes when you want to process the procurement of returnable packaging, whose administration and deposit requirements you want to map  You can also manage transport equipment using this component.

You can use Empties Management to handle the procurement process for empties (procurement, returns) alongside vendors and wholesalers. You can monitor and keep track of the movement of the empties between suppliers, companies and customers.

The following steps can be covered using Empties Management:

●     Entering empties data

●     Processing empties data

●     Evaluating empties accounts and reports

●     Outputting empties statistics

Implementation Considerations

You can only use Empties Management if you have activated the Enterprise Add-On EA-CP in Customizing in the IMG activity Activate SAP ECC Extensions.

In order to be able to use the bill of material for Empties Management in Materials Management, you must set up the sales bill of material Type 5, Alternative 1.

Integration

 

Empties Management is integrated in the following application areas:

●     Empties Management in Materials Management (MM):

○     Deposit processing with vendors

○     Purchase orders

○     Invoice verification

Empties Management in Materials Management is particularly suitable for tracking the movements of empties between retail companies and vendors.

●     Empties Management in Sales and Distribution (SD)

○     Shipping processing

○     Empties account management for customers

●     Production

●     Warehouse Management

Features

●     Tracking functions for empties

The system manages empties in the document items for movements involving full products in the procurement and sales process. This enables constant control of the empties flow outside your company.

●     Bills of material for empties

The system uses sales bill of materials (type 5, alternative 1) to automatically assign the appropriate empties (such as bottles, crates) to a full product (such as beer).

●     Value-based grouping of empties

You can group together bottles (plastic, glass, and so on) that are levied with the same deposit value for listings in SD.

●     Stock-specific empties management

You can:

○     Manage empties stocks for each customer in SD on a value basis and on a quantity basis

○     Manage deposits on empties

●     Management of empties stock accounts

The system manages the customer's empties stock accounts. When the full product is delivered to the customer, the system posts the delivered tied empties to the relevant empties account (empties update). To improve the clarity of the workflows, you can manage the empties in circulation as stock on a quantity basis, but non-valuated.

You enter the empties returned by the customer. The system updates the stock changes in the customer’s corresponding empties account.

●     Empties in Production

New or free empties are part of the production process (for example, the filling process in the beverage industry). At the end of this process, the empties are part of the finished product. They are then referred to as tied emptes.

●     Warehouse Management for Empties

You manage bought and free empties and empties from your own production on a quantity basis and on a value basis. If the empties are only valuated once when they are new in your business process, you can enter the empties without valuation, for example, in fixed assets as low-value assets.

You also manage finished products in the goods warehouse on a quantity and value basis.

Constraints

You can determine or change deposit values for price determination in the pricing procedure. These deposit values are statistical, in other words, you cannot define a time period after whose expiration the deposit value changes (no time-dependent deposit). The system does not support time-dependent deposit value determination.

Time-dependent deposits are used, for example, in the sale of gas in gas bottles. This guarantees that the empties are returned within a given timeframe (for example, 30 days).

If the given timeframe is exceeded, the vendor demands a higher deposit or charges a fine.